Darby Mills Biography
Donald and Darby
Born in 1959, in the small town of Vernon British Columbia, Canada. The last of 4 children, “the BABY” as my mom would lovingly refer to me. At the age of 5 I started figure Skating, where I spent both my winters and summers for the next 12 years. Not to mention 5 am practice times 2 to 3 time s a week. The summers as a youngster, were spent at my parent’s cabin. I believe this is where the STAGE bug took it's first bite. At night the family would sit upon the drift wood logs that lay on the beach, the bonfire lit the night, my dad would serenade the world with the songs of his youth. He had the most amazingly powerful voice. I still feel the shivers when I recall those evenings. After every song applause would echo out even from the bonfires on the other side of the lake, where other cabins and their families would lay in wait for another song. I was so proud to be his daughter.
What a wonderful feeling he must have felt.
For as long as I remember, I had a desire.
During my years of Figure skating, I earned a spot on a special team of young skaters. We were invited to Vancouver sponsored by Canada’s own Karen Magnussen to skate at her summer camp. Even though 12 years of daily training, and many dollars spent my age now 17 I had passed my prime and was getting too old to hold my spot. I was invited to become an instructor but I chose to stay in school and finish my education.
Grade 10............My first band!
I was standing in the bedroom of a high school buddy. His band focused on rehearsal for an upcoming show. They were playing “Crazy on You” by Heart. I giggling at what I was witnessing …. “What!”, remarked the drummer. “a GUY can’t sing Ann Wilson form HEART” I replied, Richard the drummer promptly picked up the album cover (which contained the lyrics) threw it at me and with a smirk on his face said, “Then YOU sing it!”
I DID! …………… and I worked their next show.
What a wonderful feeling he must have felt.
For as long as I remember, I had a desire.
During my years of Figure skating, I earned a spot on a special team of young skaters. We were invited to Vancouver sponsored by Canada’s own Karen Magnussen to skate at her summer camp. Even though 12 years of daily training, and many dollars spent my age now 17 I had passed my prime and was getting too old to hold my spot. I was invited to become an instructor but I chose to stay in school and finish my education.
Grade 10............My first band!
I was standing in the bedroom of a high school buddy. His band focused on rehearsal for an upcoming show. They were playing “Crazy on You” by Heart. I giggling at what I was witnessing …. “What!”, remarked the drummer. “a GUY can’t sing Ann Wilson form HEART” I replied, Richard the drummer promptly picked up the album cover (which contained the lyrics) threw it at me and with a smirk on his face said, “Then YOU sing it!”
I DID! …………… and I worked their next show.
1974 “KASHMIR”, named after the Led Zeppelin song, was the next stop on my journey.
We practiced in my parent’s basement for the better part of a year.
I remember one night the guitar player said to me "You sound like Janis Joplin”
I replied……… "WHO?" I was then, educated!
1977/78 Senior High school, I convince someone on the school council to let me sing the theme song "We May never pass this way again" . Chosen by the students at our Graduation Ceremony. My first taste of arena ROCK...lol
One week after Graduation, I loaded all my worldly possessions into my trusty silver grey pinstriped Gremlin and headed for Calgary, Alberta. This stemming from sneaking while underage into the local bars back home. They always had Alberta bands playing there. Most were willing to let me get up on stage to jam. And No, my parents had no knowledge till years later. Just over a year I spent in Calgary. Five, six, seven bands I passed in and out of, all while learning what I could and couldn’t do. Then a quick excursion to Vancouver to front a blues/jazz band called Forecast. I lasted two months. Back to Calgary for some more Rock’n’Roll. “SARGENT” was next, but that didn’t last long either. By that time it was clear, a day job was in my immediate future.
Mister Sound Records in the south Center Mall was my home for the next few months, when fate yet again stepped in.
Mister Sound Records in the south Center Mall was my home for the next few months, when fate yet again stepped in.
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DANCIN, to a different beat!
I had landed an audition with a 7 piece Dance band originating from Harlem, New York, USA. I booked the time off and headed to the auditions in Edmonton, Alta. Out of 50 some others trying out, I GOT THE GIG!! Within 3 weeks we were out on the road touring. “Business Before Pleasure” or BBP for short. we played Donna Summers, Anita Ward, Earth Wind and Fire, Stevie Wonder a taste of a new life it really was. Just over a month into touring, we landed in Lethbridge, Alta. It was a two week Gig. We were funkin out every night just cross the street from the local ROCK 'n' ROLL bar, where “STEELBACK” was booked for two weeks as well. Week one on our breaks, I would run cross the street from the dance club to watch the ROCKERS wail. By the end of that week, I had been invited up on their stage to jam.
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Business Before Pleasure
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Mid week two: I had an offer to join “STEELBACK” and move to Vancouver to sing
ROCK ‘n’ ROLL! Not that I didn’t enjoy my funk and soul education from the boys in "BBP", I just knew where my heart and soul needed to be. End week two: I felt just terrible leavening BBP so quickly after joining but I mustered a solemn good bye to my New York connections and jumped in the OLD Blue Van. It had been STEELBACKs transportation for many years. So Off I headed to the west coast just one more time. On one of our many excursions from B.C. to Alberta and back, STEELBACK had acquired a one ton moving truck, filled with our SOLID WHITE PA system that the band was famous for ( filled with 6 PA cabinets each the size of a small car, 30 plus par cans, full stage lighting, trusses, 100 plus wrapped electrical cords and the drum kit loaded in green garbage buckets as far as my memory serves)…… ROLLED. It went down a 20 foot embankment abut survived to tell the tale. It was packed so tight that we lost a few light jells and I think a snare skin. Luck be a lady to night!! |
Just outside of Boston Bar, B.C. We were so luckily no one was hurt, except of course the truck. We managed to drive it home to Victoria, even onto a B.C. ferry. Which was totally unbelievable as the trucks front fender was bent up over the hood and being held on by electrical cords. The one ton box was twisted sideways by at least 2 feet. OH to have those pictures.
Well Hello Victoria, As the months rolled in to a year the band had gotten better and better. Then on one particular night, the BIG BOYS were seen in the audience!!
The Zodiac Night Club was packed to the rafters and the members of that new "TOO LOUD" act, had stopped by to catch the show. Only a few words were exchanged, they left, and that was that. Till the following week, "STEELBACK" and I were back in Calgary and the room phone rang. It was Brian TOO loud Macleod. He mentioned he’d seen me the week before and wanted to know if I interested in sing for the HEADPINS.
Dumbfounded, I asked if he knew exactly who he was talking to?
He said YES and replied, take your time deciding. He'd call back tomorrow for my answer....
1980 was the year CHILLIWACK, LOVERBOY, TORONTO, SOLID GOLD Records and the HEADPINS became a staple in my life!
( For more detail on that year and those to followed, the Headpins page will have a far more in-depth recount )
5 of the most incredible, invigorating, self finding, mind blowing, skill developing, heartbreaking and discouraging years were to follow. Nothing is as it seems,
as I found out. Yet, how much would I give how much would it take, that was question.
Contracts, lawyers, managers, studios, buses, planes, hotels, hotels, hotels, even friends, can and do, all have their own agenda. A thick skin and endless conviction is a must if you want to survive here.
I am so proud to say I met and married my husband Brian Wadsworth in these years, who was then and is now again my manager.
In rolled 1985, where I lost my position as the singer for the Headpins. One day after the Canadian leg of the ZZ TOP tour I was totally blindsided. Thank goodness It was a time for great things to be happening in Vancouver that year. I quickly put together a 9 piece band with a horn section called
“DON’T LOOK DOWN” so we could play EXPO and one of the best clubs of those days, 86 STREET Music Hall.
Then shortly after Expo, I ended up in Los Angeles having resigned with MCA records, USA as a solo artist. The head of A&R, who had originally signed the Headpins, flew me down to LA for a few weeks where I co-wrote with a plethora of talented and up and coming writers. Then I was off to London, England where I recorded 6 tracks of what was to be my NEW sound. GREG WALSH of TINA TURNER’S “Private Dancer” fame was at the controls, TONI LEVIN on bass, Tina Turner’s then guitar player PHIL (sorry i can't recall his last name) on guitar and on BG’s from MIKE and the MECHANICS support team. The list was truly awe inspiring. I had returned home for a short rest and a chance to write some more material when I received a call from Ell Pie Studio, England. (Owned and operated by Pete Townshend, of the WHO) They were no longer getting replies from MCA and wanted to know what was happening.
My then management and I jumped on a plane for LA and called a meeting. We arrived we discovered that our team was no longer employed by MCA and the now NEW head of A&R proceeded to tell us that the company WOULD in fact be breaking a female artist this year but WHO ? HE had been introduced to a young girl, He mentioned she had no live experience but she had “SOMETHING”. With the tens of thousands of US dollars already invested on my European tracks, we called his bluff. I flew home that night a FREE agent no longer signed to a recording deal with MCA.
MCA Music did break that new female artist the next year! “TIFFANY” flooded the scene that following summer, playing shopping malls across America.
5 months passed before I had the courage to come up or out for air. By then I had lost my management and any self confidence. But…The show must go on! Actually I think it should read, The show WILL go on, with… or WITHOUT you!
The 80’s club scene was like nothing you will ever see again I'm thinking. After getting a huge bump from a now life long buddy, I left my house and hit the stage for the first time in almost 8 months........... "Don't stop Keepin On!"
Well Hello Victoria, As the months rolled in to a year the band had gotten better and better. Then on one particular night, the BIG BOYS were seen in the audience!!
The Zodiac Night Club was packed to the rafters and the members of that new "TOO LOUD" act, had stopped by to catch the show. Only a few words were exchanged, they left, and that was that. Till the following week, "STEELBACK" and I were back in Calgary and the room phone rang. It was Brian TOO loud Macleod. He mentioned he’d seen me the week before and wanted to know if I interested in sing for the HEADPINS.
Dumbfounded, I asked if he knew exactly who he was talking to?
He said YES and replied, take your time deciding. He'd call back tomorrow for my answer....
1980 was the year CHILLIWACK, LOVERBOY, TORONTO, SOLID GOLD Records and the HEADPINS became a staple in my life!
( For more detail on that year and those to followed, the Headpins page will have a far more in-depth recount )
5 of the most incredible, invigorating, self finding, mind blowing, skill developing, heartbreaking and discouraging years were to follow. Nothing is as it seems,
as I found out. Yet, how much would I give how much would it take, that was question.
Contracts, lawyers, managers, studios, buses, planes, hotels, hotels, hotels, even friends, can and do, all have their own agenda. A thick skin and endless conviction is a must if you want to survive here.
I am so proud to say I met and married my husband Brian Wadsworth in these years, who was then and is now again my manager.
In rolled 1985, where I lost my position as the singer for the Headpins. One day after the Canadian leg of the ZZ TOP tour I was totally blindsided. Thank goodness It was a time for great things to be happening in Vancouver that year. I quickly put together a 9 piece band with a horn section called
“DON’T LOOK DOWN” so we could play EXPO and one of the best clubs of those days, 86 STREET Music Hall.
Then shortly after Expo, I ended up in Los Angeles having resigned with MCA records, USA as a solo artist. The head of A&R, who had originally signed the Headpins, flew me down to LA for a few weeks where I co-wrote with a plethora of talented and up and coming writers. Then I was off to London, England where I recorded 6 tracks of what was to be my NEW sound. GREG WALSH of TINA TURNER’S “Private Dancer” fame was at the controls, TONI LEVIN on bass, Tina Turner’s then guitar player PHIL (sorry i can't recall his last name) on guitar and on BG’s from MIKE and the MECHANICS support team. The list was truly awe inspiring. I had returned home for a short rest and a chance to write some more material when I received a call from Ell Pie Studio, England. (Owned and operated by Pete Townshend, of the WHO) They were no longer getting replies from MCA and wanted to know what was happening.
My then management and I jumped on a plane for LA and called a meeting. We arrived we discovered that our team was no longer employed by MCA and the now NEW head of A&R proceeded to tell us that the company WOULD in fact be breaking a female artist this year but WHO ? HE had been introduced to a young girl, He mentioned she had no live experience but she had “SOMETHING”. With the tens of thousands of US dollars already invested on my European tracks, we called his bluff. I flew home that night a FREE agent no longer signed to a recording deal with MCA.
MCA Music did break that new female artist the next year! “TIFFANY” flooded the scene that following summer, playing shopping malls across America.
5 months passed before I had the courage to come up or out for air. By then I had lost my management and any self confidence. But…The show must go on! Actually I think it should read, The show WILL go on, with… or WITHOUT you!
The 80’s club scene was like nothing you will ever see again I'm thinking. After getting a huge bump from a now life long buddy, I left my house and hit the stage for the first time in almost 8 months........... "Don't stop Keepin On!"
Plain Jane
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“Plain Jane” Hit the clubs for the better part of a year when John Kalodner ( the dude looks like a lady guy) of Geffen Records, LA stepped in. He flew me down to Nashville, Tennessee where I co-wrote a handful of songs for yet another attempted at a solo project. When it was all said and done, it just didn't have that SOMETHING And the project went cold. Two more close calls with Canadian record companies came and went, but nothing. Till finally, Warner Chappell publishing and Warner Music Canada decided I might have a chance. My husband had just finished building SOUNDWERKS Recording Studio. A fantastic Recording/Rehearsal space in east Vancouver. 1990 We we hit the gears hard, and released "NEVER LOOK BACK"
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With a handful of the best talent Vancouver had to offer, the recording of “Never Look Back” was completed and released in Canada under the Warner Music Label.
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IN 1991 the new band “Unsung Heroes” and I hit the road. Touring with Lee Aaron across Canada that whole summer and stand alone dates for another year. In the end “Never look Back” yielded 4 radio singles a JUNO nomination and one video. Unfortunately this was not enough to keep the band signed and we were released from our contract with Warner Music.
At this point I found I had little left to give to my career and resolved to living a life with out music. Behind the scenes, I had been dealing with a lawsuit for the past 5 years. The Headpins had acquired substantial debt to the former manager for Hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even though I had been fired from the band was personally being held responsible for it's repayment. With no Record deal on the table and now our first baby on the way, I gave up on all counts and let the government step in. Financially bankrupt with out a dream. |
Unsung Hereos
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Or so I thought!
Once again after months of self exile, I got back up on stage with a cover band called "Mad Max" owned by the Pins old drummer. Just over a year later we where dubbed the Headpins yet again. Thankfully, there were no more lawyers at my door and no one came to say you can't, so we continued to bring the songs to life for the next 26 or so years. In 2013 my Mom whom I was caring for along with my dad, passed away unexpected one morning. Within 6 months my husband had a massive heart attach and flat lined in our drive way. 10 broken ribs do to compression and skilled first responders brought him back to life. This started me on a quest for answers and the need to feel complete. In 2016 I chose to leave a life time of work and attempt to find a part of me that was buried deep, and covered in fear. I know I’ve left out many details. Some good, like the birth of my two awesome boys and the fact that Brian and I have been married for 34 years now. Some sad details as well as some very bad ones! ..................One day I’ll have to sit down and put it all on paper. I’ve been saying this for a few years now, so PLEASE, take note !!! If you remember a band from your youth, of your life experience, part of your fabric. NOW is the time to go see them. Go find your MEMORIES, go relive those fine years. Tomorrow or next time might never come!!! |
It has been a wild ride and I’d like to thank you all for being a part of my SOMETHING!
Here’s hoping it’s not done yet!!!
Cheers, Darby
"MUSIC is what teaches the soul to sing" ~DMills
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